Woman makes appeal for ‘McCloskey’ male descendants living in Derry to help trace family ancestry

The appeal is from Wendy Cosby-Hallinan, Member of the Guild of One-Name Studies. Wendy is seeking a Y-DNA test for men who are McCloskey male descendants as part of a McCloskey DNA project in Family Tree DNA.

The appeal comes as Wendy began a study in 2018 in a bid to research her ancestors. What followed would be an in-depth deep dive into the field of surname matches and DNA findings with one of the project members of the DNA project now donating funds for Y-DNA tests in a further bid to confirm the intricate family ancestry.

Wendy, who studied at the Genealogical, Palaeographic and Heraldic Studies programme of study at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, originally asked her brother to take a Y-DNA test in order to look into an ancestor who was born between 1759 and 1765.

Whilst the ancestor died soon after his home was destroyed in a fire, along with all family papers, the ancestor in question had left eight children.

Testing of Wendy’s male cousins revealed at least one descendent from each of three different sons, but the Y-DNA results returned many surnames.

This eventually led Wendy to develop friendships “with people with very close Y-DNA matches but with surnames other than Cosby,” which is the surname Wendy had been expecting to pursue.

Eventually it became clear the link was the name McCluskey and McCloskey, but whilst Wendy admits she didn’t “get it” at first, she reveals one Family Tree DNA project member helpfully advised: “None of the McCloskeys have done Y-DNA, but several Cosby’s may be McCluskeys in disguise.”

Wendy reveals: “In her book, ‘The Lost Family: How DNA Testing is Upending Who We Are,’ Libby Copeland says about one in three people who do a DNA test discover some unexpected results. What I found is more like a revelation.

"One expects a straight line through a brick wall. What lies behind my brick wall is a detour to a biological family that is most likely named McCloskey.”

Wendy has encouraged men who are McCloskey male descendants to get in touch via the project website at McCloskey - FamilyTreeDNA or email: [email protected].